While some scouts are seeing lower corn yields in Nebraska this year than they did last year on the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour, the overall soybean pod counts have been coming in strong.

"For soybeans, our counts are definitely up--over 2,000 pod count in a 3-foot square," reports Paul Neiffer, the Farm CPA. "But again, this is irrigated ground that we've been counting, so I would expect those counts to be up there." Listen to his full audio report:

"The soybeans are green and look good from the road," said western tour consultant Terry Johnston, in his preliminary observations. "We're seeing some grasshopper and aphid damage, so I hope folks are out looking for aphids, as we've seen them at varying degrees in about every field."

Near Spalding, Neb., Neiffer said his group finally found a corn field that broke the "magic" 200-bu. per acre yield estimate, an example of the variability that scouts have encountered with Nebraska corn.

"The corn crop doesn't look variable from the road, but once you get in there it's showing a lot of variability within the fields," Johnston said. "Although, the crop has gotten better in our last few stops. We're seeing some gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight, but not heavy pressure. Maturity-wise we've seen everything from milk to dent, with most of it in late dough, so it needs some time to make it to maturity."

Likewise, scouts in Boone County, Neb., were seeing some pretty healthy-looking corn:

On Twitter, scouts reported solid yields with some variability. See more reports by following #pftour15 on Twitter.